LinkedIn Launches Career Explorer For Grads

LinkedIn today launched a new feature for college students at over 60 universities across the United States that it calls “Career Explorer.” The feature will allow students to explore different career paths based on where they go to school, their level of education, and the industry they hope to join when they graduate. The new offering, which is in beta testing for the next several months, walks the students through a visualization process for different careers, showing them any job openings that LinkedIn members have available in that market, as well as estimated salary ranges and the people in their network that might be able to help.

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The feature allows students to create and save multiple career paths, and shows them similar career progressions taken by others in their chosen industry, as well as picking out individuals within their broader LinkedIn network that might be able to supply a recommendation or give them some tips on how to proceed down a specific path. Students can also learn about the industry or market they are hoping to join, including statistics about jobs, companies and trends in that industry.

It may not replace the university guidance office, but these types of tools could make life a little easier for students who are unsure about their chosen career path or how to get started — and might also help LinkedIn develop a long-term relationship with those students, which seems smart. The company has been adding new features steadily over the past several months to make the service more social and has also made some acquisitions: moves that some see as preparation for an initial public offering.

After reading this article I can’t help but post this comment about my website that solves the college recruiting problem for students and employers and allows students from all over the world to prove that they are just as smart and hard working as any other student. http://www.NoodleStorm.com is a website where organizations can submit problems of any type (e.g. business, nonprofit, engineering, computer science, etc.) for college students to solve. The organizations can receive multiple solutions from students all over the world and then whittle through those solutions and pick the top candidates to come in for an interview. This will save organizations many thousands of dollars in recruiting costs and it gives every college student the opportunity to compete for top jobs. Students and professors from most of the top schools in the U.S. and from several international schools are signed up and organizations are submitting problems. Thanks everyone for allowing me to post this unabashedly self-serving comment.